Climpson & Sons

Time Out says

Thu Feb 18 2010

Deeply brown, nicely buzzy, and never overheated, Climpson’s wood-lined coffee shop has the same great qualities as its excellent flat whites.

Occupying a little niche on the west side of Broadway Market, you might miss it entirely on a Saturday when this street becomes a hive of street stalls, artisanal food-snobbery and folk-busking. But this haven of laid-back enthusiasm, with friendly antipodean staff who aim to serve, not sneer, is open every day of the week from 7.30 am when it's a nifty morning paper hangout for equally laid-back local commuters.

With its no-frills attitude, plain wooden benches, handy power points and helpful blackboard graph explaining the strength and taste of the available coffees and how they’re made, this place is about coffee first, conversation second. Climpson’s is a great example of the kind of pared-down, taste-focused cafés which have sprung up all over Dalston and London Fields, bringing hip mums, students and twentysomething remote workers together to enjoy keenly priced retro cakes, avocado on sourdough, and good strong coffee, locally roasted at Climpson’s nearby roastery.

You can’t drop a cup round here without hitting a cool indie coffee shop – which means you can get a seat, a paper, or a takeout here without having to fight your way through a bunch of childbikes, whippets, and people nattering about their startups (yes, Wilton Way we’re talking about you).

Also good nearby: recently-opened Unpackaged on Richmond Road does a great flat white but if you want to take it away you’ll have to bring your own cup.